Nutritional composition with health promoting action containing oligosaccharides

Abstract

A nutritional composition having beneficial effect in the gastrointestinal tract, especially an anti-adhesion effect on pathogenic micro-organisms and a bifidogenic effect, contains non-digestible oligosaccharides, said oligosaccharides comprising, per daily dosage, 0.3-10 g of oligosaccharides containing at least one terminal arabinose unit. The nutritional composition may furthermore comprise 0.5-10 g of other non-digestible oligosaccharides selected from fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides and manno-oligosaccharides. The arabino-oligosaccharides can be obtained conveniently by controlled hydrolysis of arabinose-containing polysaccharides from natural (vegetable) origin.

1. A complete food composition containing proteins (4-35wt. %), lipids (4-35 wt. %), and digestible carbohydrates (30-90 wt. %), said composition containing, on a dry weight basis, 0.07-6% of arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides containing at least one L-arabinose unit at least one end of the oligosaccharide chain. 
     
     
       2. A complete food composition according to  claim 1 , which is a liquid tube-feed composition containing, on a dry weight basis, 0.07-2.5% of said arabinose-containing oligosaccharides. 
     
     
       3. A complete food composition according to  claim 1 , which is an infant formula containing, on a dry weight basis, 0.15-6% of said arabinose-containing oligosaccharides.